• Day: 2016-06-30

The workshop "Salviamo il Gigante" (Save the Giant), hold in Bologna on June 29th, 2016, has presented to the public and the press the first results of an important Cultural Heritage restoration project, concerning the analysis of the conservation conditions and the restoration of the Neptune fountain. The Neptune fountain is a monumental civic fountain located in the very centre of Bologna (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fountain_of_Neptune,_Bologna). It is a Renaissance masterpiece featuring a colossal bronze Neptune statue by Gianbologna. The Municipality of Bologna is financing this action and appointed a multidisciplinary consortium for its management: University of Bologna, the Istituto Superiore per la Conservazione ed il Restauro (ISCR, Rome) and CNR-ISTI (Pisa). CNR-ISTI is responsible for the development of the information system that will host all the data produced during the analysis and restoration phase. The entire monument has been digitized in three dimensions by the University of Bologna. A strong innovation in this restoration project is that all the data produced after the the visual analysis of the restoration team and subsequent scientific investigations will be mapped and geo-referenced over the digital 3D model, using the new web-based information system developed by CNR-ISTI. The latter couples a relational database with an advanced 3D component that enables a web-based access and navigation over the 3D representation of the artwork, the geo-location of all the knowledge and data over the 3D space and the support for the production of maps and reliefs directly on the 3D representation. This project will pave the way for an innovative approach to the documentation of restoration projects, providing the experts, the conservators as well the public with easy to use web-based resources Nettuno_3DHOP.png (Contact: R. Scopigno, Visual Computing Lab, CNR-ISTI, r.scopigno@isti.cnr.it).